High School Notebook: Humbled Panthers get back to work

The problem wasn’t that the Franklin baseball team was supposed to be good; it was that the Panthers knew it.

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

Posted May. 6, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 6, 2012 at 6:04 AM

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

Posted May. 6, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 6, 2012 at 6:04 AM

» Social News

They were supposed to be good.

The Franklin baseball team was coming off winning the Division 1 South sectional last spring, a season that saw the Panthers get better and better. They had most of their key returners back and were importing some talented players from the freshmen and JV teams.

The problem wasn’t that they were supposed to be good; it was that they knew it.

“I think definitely coming back from last year’s team we had a little arrogance coming in,” shortstop Brendan Skidmore said.

It took all of one game for the Panthers to figure out that wasn’t going to work. They opened with a 6-2 home loss to King Philip on April 3, giving up five runs in the first inning.

A team known for its pitching and defense struggled with both. Senior pitcher Tyler Buck couldn’t locate his pitches and the Warriors took advantage, most notably when KP’s Dan Rosen hit a grand slam.

The Panthers knew it was more than just one bad game and didn’t need coach Dave Niro to tell them.

“The captains got the guys together after that game,” said Buck, one of four captains. “We were embarrassed for losing the first game of the season — we had such high expectations. (We said) we got to have more intensity.”

Franklin has been a different team since; the Panthers have won 10 straight, capped by Buck’s one-hit, 12-strikeout performance in an 8-1 win over Westborough on Thursday.

Just like in the preseason, they’re regarded as the best team in the Hockomock League. But this time the Panthers aren’t paying attention to talk.

“I was honestly glad that that experience happened, especially that early in the season,” Buck said of the KP game. “It made everybody try to realize what we’re trying to do. We went into this year with the mentality to win. It kind of made us realize that we needed to step up to compete.”

Buck has been one of the leaders in the winning streak. For the season he’s 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings. Fellow senior Bobby Chaiton (3.30 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings) and sophomore Marc Mele (0.82 ERA, 21 Ks in 17 1/3 innings) fill out the rotation, while junior Andrew Skaza (no earned runs in 7 1/3 innings) is the closer.

With a lineup that Niro calls “a bunch of grinders,” the Panthers have made a habit of winning close games.

The most memorable was against Oliver Ames on April 18. The Panthers trailed by four in the seventh and rallied to send it to extra innings. The Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth, but Mele got out of the jam. The sophomore pitched the eighth and the ninth, then knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 victory.

Page 2 of 2 - “I got a lot of confidence in these guys,” Niro said. “They don’t want to lose. They’ll battle you right to the end. That Oliver Ames game, we had no business being in it.”

Buck leads Franklin with a .421 batting average. Chaiton is at .406 and Brandon Eccher at .372 with three triples. Skidmore hits .368 with six doubles.

But it’s been the pitching and defense that have won most games. In its last seven games, Franklin has allowed a total of six runs with three shutouts.

“We’re definitely a team that’s going to be carried by our pitching,” Skidmore said. “Obviously Tyler had an excellent year after last year. Bobby Chaiton. Marc Mele, he’s come up and had some big games for us. He came out for us against Foxboro and had 15 strikeouts.

“We’re definitely being carried by the pitching. We couldn’t really ask for much more.”

Now that they’ve found their rhythm, the Panthers have benefited from the experience they got in last year’s run. Franklin was just a No. 9 seed in the Div. 1 South sectional. The Panthers had to travel to Fall River to face Durfee for their opener and left with an 11-inning win. Then they beat top-seeded Walpole 9-4 before crushing BC High 17-6 in the semifinals.

That gave them a date with Xaverian in the sectional final. Skidmore hit a walkoff home run to give Franklin a 6-5 win and its first Division 1 sectional title (it had previously won a Division 2 sectional).

The run ended the next day in the state semifinal with a blowout loss to eventual state champion Lincoln-Sudbury, but the confidence was already imbedded.

“Last year we had more of a team that came alive at the end of the season,” Skidmore said. “But coming back with more core players, we have more confidence. We’re able to keep our cool out there. We’ve been in this situation before. We’ve got a lot of first-year players coming up big too.”

Franklin can redeem its only loss when it visits King Philip tomorrow. But more important than revenge is the lesson the Panthers learned the first time they played the Warriors.

“Going into the season, everyone was thinking we were the top dog in the Hockomock,” Buck said. “The KP game made us think we got to bring it every single game. I honestly think everybody takes every game more seriously now.”

(Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.)